Louis Lortie, piano
Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has been praised for the fresh perspective and individuality he brings to a deliberately broad spectrum of the keyboard canon. He studied in Montréal with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of French pianist, Alfred Cortot), in Vienna with the Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher, among others.

Mr. Lortie has performed the complete works of Ravel in London and Montréal for the BBC and CBC, and is also known for his interpretation of Chopin. Following a recital of Chopin’s complete Etudes in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Financial Times wrote: “Better Chopin playing than this is not to be heard, not anywhere.”

Also celebrated for his interpretation of works by Beethoven, Mr. Lortie has performed the complete Beethoven sonatas in London’s Wigmore Hall, Toronto’s Ford Center, Berlin Philharmonie, and the Sala Grande del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. In Berlin, Die Welt called his performances “possibly the most beautiful Beethoven since the times of Wilhelm Kempff.” Mr. Lortie’s Beethoven project culminated in the 2001 Beethoven Plus Festival in which he performed the 32 sonatas for piano, the ten violin sonatas with James Ehnes, the five cello sonatas with Jan Vogler and complete trios for piano, violin and cello. In addition, he conducted from the keyboard the five piano concertos with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Louis Lortie opened the Bonn Beethoven Festival in 2003 playing Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto with Kurt Masur conducting, and was immediately re-engaged. He performed again with Mr. Masur in Paris and with the New York Philharmonic in January 2006.

A regular performer at the Mozart Plus Festival in Montreal, Mr. Lortie plays the complete Mozart Piano Concertos in combination with conducting various symphonic works by other composers, with the MSO. Last season he began his multi-concert Wagner/Liszt project at London’s Wigmore Hall, and next season performs it in Berlin, Milan, Domaine Forget, the Weimar Festival, Bordeaux and Warsaw. He also performs his third Carnegie Hall recital, appears with the Houston Symphony, Halle Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the San Diego Symphony. He gives recitals at Stanford University, Baltimore’s Shriver Hall, and London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. He will play and conduct with the Quebec Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and the Des Moines Symphony.  

Mr. Lortie has made over 30 recordings on Chandos, ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky, including recordings with his regular piano-duo partner, Hélène Mercier. His recording of Beethoven’s Eroica Variations won the Edison Award, and his disc of Schumann’s Bunte Blatter and other works by Schumann and Brahms was named one of the best CDs of the year by BBC Music Magazine. He has recorded Ravel’s complete works for piano and has almost completed the 32 Beethoven sonatas.  His recording of the complete Chopin Etudes, Op. 10 and 25, has been cited by BBC Music Magazine’s special Piano Issue as one of “50 Recordings by Superlative Pianists.”  

Mr. Lortie’s most recent CD release is the final recording in his three-CD series of Liszt’s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague. It was immediately named an “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone Magazine. In addition to the current Liszt recordings, other recent releases include To the Distant Beloved, with works by Beethoven, Schumann and Liszt, and Franck’s Symphonic Variations with the BBC Symphony. Under the recording label Palexa, Mr. Lortie will soon release a series of recent live performances.

Born in  Montréal, Louis Lortie made his debut with the Montréal Symphony at the age of 13 and the Toronto Symphony three years later, which as a result engaged him for an historic tour of the People’s Republic of China and Japan. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was a prize-winner at the Leeds Competition.  In 1992 he was named Officer of the Order of Canada, and received both the Order of Quebec and an honorary doctorate from Laval University. He now regularly teaches at Italy’s renowned piano institute at Imola. Mr. Lortie has lived in Berlin since 1997 and also has a home in Canada.
More information about the artist is available at www.louislortie.com